If there’s one thing that European League of Legends players do better than any other region, it’s flame. After cruising to victory over a clueless Fnatic line-up, H2K-Gaming’s Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski didn’t hold back in torching his defeated opposition.

The story of mediocre results, an abject lack of teamplay and difficulty to pick up wins against weak opposition continues to frustrate the Fnatic fanbase on a weekly basis. Jungler Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider has already been relegated to the bench, yet the underlying issue of Fnatic’s disastrous pick and ban phase remains, as highlighted by H2K’s veteran Jungler and First Blood King:

Source: Riot Games Flickr

“To be honest, I felt like the guy who did draft for Fnatic should probably not get food, or not get paid because it was so bad for my eyes.

“Pretty much I knew from the beginning that we would win this game no matter what.”

Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski

Following the inharmonious departure of Luis “Deilor” Sevilla, Fnatic opted to employ the services of former Origen coach Nicholas “NicoThePico” Korsgård. Towards the end of his tenure, Deilor was frequently criticised for his sub-standard team compositions, though the arrival of Nico has done little to resolve these issues.

NicoThePico’s drafts have similarly failed to live up to expectations; the Fnatic coach has an appalling game win percentage, with just seven game wins out of the 24 competitive games the team have played since his arrival. Of the 15 game losses Fnatic have experienced since his arrival, an alarming number have been conceded to low tier teams.

Source: Riot Games Flickr

Though Jankos risks a potential fine for his savage comments, his criticism has brought home a harsh truth for Fnatic fans. Generally the community was willing to give Nico time to stamp his mark on the new roster, especially given the internal issues Fnatic had faced during the previous season. But after running the same composition twice with almost identical defeats against Misfits, the series against H2K-Gaming showed no signs of improvement.

Fnatic had no obvious strategy or win condition outside of hoping H2K played poorly. After picking themselves three losing lanes, FNC found themselves inevitably getting pushed in early on. Naturally, Jankos took the opportunity to aggressively invade the enemy jungle and impose his will on Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen without being punished – it was all too simple for H2K.

Source: Riot Games Flickr

In their current state, there really isn’t any cause for optimism within the Fnatic roster. Despite repeating that they are continuously looking to address the issues the team are experiencing on the rift, FNC continue to self-sabotage any chances of a revival.

Fnatic started the season by emphasising the value of an all-European, 10-man roster who scrimmed together and focused on synergy and team harmony. The organisation reiterated that bringing in ‘big name’ Koreans did not guarantee results and that repeatedly replacing one underperforming player was counter-productive. Fnatic have not practiced what they preached.

The line-up has completely changed, but Fnatic are facing the exact same issues as last year: no teamplay, no cohesion and no strategy – no one player is the issue, the entire team lacks identity. Whether the situation would be improved by removing coach Nicholas “NicoThePico” Korsgård is uncertain, but the organisation certainly have to do something; relegation is becoming a realistic prospect.